IATSE Annual Conference 2009 - [Iatse]
- Published: 15 May 2009
This year is the 21st annual conference of the association. We hope that, with your support as presenters and delegates, that it will be as special and memorable as previous events. If you are a long-time attendee come back and join us again this year. If you have never been to our conference join us and see how much the various events and presentation have to offer in term of professional development, information and interaction with teachers and other personnel working with students with special needs in Ireland and abroad. In addition our conference has always been noted for its friendly atmosphere and the warm welcome to all our participants.
The conference will, as usual, be held in St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin 9 from Thursday, 11 June to Saturday, 13 June, 2009. The title is "Partnership for Learning" and there promises to be a wide diversity of papers and discussions on the many facets of the topic. We are looking forward to positive and supportive exchanges and debate especially in this time of doom and gloom in educational and fiscal matters.
As usual the Opening events of conference will be held on Thursday evening, 11 June at 8 pm in the College Auditorium. The Official opening will be followed by the keynote address. This year's keynote speaker is Fergus Finlay, a well known pubic figure from the political arena and more recently active in the area of children's rights and services. After the formalities there will be a reception in the College canteen, kindly hosted by the President of the College, where delegates, presenters and guests can meet and chat.
The conference will then follow the usual format with concurrent paper presentations on Friday and on Saturday morning. The papers will cover a wide range of topics and issues related to the theme of conference. The majority of our presenters come from Ireland but we hope to welcome presenters from Scotland, England, India, and the USA.
There will be a social event early on Friday evening just after the last paper presentation for those delegates and guests who wish to attend. Again details will be given as soon as final arrangements are made. Many delegates like an opportunity to meet in the early evening for a chat and a chance to discuss the conference to date. Then all are free to make their own arrangements for dinner or other options around town!
The conference will finish on Saturday with the Open Forum at 12 noon on Saturday, 14 June. All are invited to attend and participate.
As this is the 40th anniversary of IATSE it is hoped that some of the founder members will come to conference and have a reunion where they might discuss the events and changes of the past forty years. They may share some of their insights and memories with us all at the Open Forum on Saturday before we end conference.
The full programme will be available very shortly and will be displayed on the website and distributed by post to all members of IATSE as well as presenters and guests.
Each year the Department of Education has provided sanction for teachers to attend the Conference subject to certain conditions. The criteria allows for leave of absence for class teachers as well as special needs teachers and teachers in special schools, We are currently awaiting formal notification from the DES for this years conference. As soon as this is available the full details of conditions and criteria will be posted on the website and notified to members.
Poor quality pre-schools may 'damage' children [Irish Times]
- Published: 14 May 2009
Source: Irish Times
KITTY HOLLAND
UNIVERSAL PRE-SCHOOL education, due to be introduced next year, could damage young children if it is not sufficiently resourced, according to the children's charity Barnardos.
Speaking at the publication of the charity's latest campaign document on educational disadvantage, Written Out, Written Off, Barnardos director of advocacy Norah Gibbons said early educational interventions were crucial in combating disadvantage.
"However, poor quality pre-school education can actually do damage in terms of young children's emotional and social development," she said.
"It really is important these pre-schools are properly resourced."
Barnardos welcomed the new policy, announced in the Government's supplementary budget, that from January a year of early education will be introduced for all children aged between three years three months and four years and six months.
"But we are concerned about the quality issue," said Ms Gibbons.
Echoing her, Professor Paul Connolly, of the Centre for Effective Education at Queen's University, Belfast, said in-depth British studies made a "stark" finding that "at best, low-quality early education had no impact at all. In some cases it can cause harm."
The Written Out, Written Off campaign draws on data in an ESRI study, Investing in Education: Combating Educational Disadvantage, also published yesterday.
Among findings in the study:
Early school-leavers are three to four times more likely to be unemployed than their more educated peers;
The majority of Irish prisoners have never sat a State exam and over half left school before the age of 15;
Early school-leavers are more likely to be in poor health, to suffer anxiety and mental health problems;
Early school-leavers are 4.5 times more likely to be in receipt of a medical card;
Girls who left school early were more likely to go on to be single mothers than girls who completed their Leaving Certificate.
"These figures indicate the high cost to the State of early school leaving," said Ms Gibbons.
"While much effort has been made in tackling educational disadvantage there is a huge sense that these inroads will be eroded by the education cutbacks.
"It is Barnardos' view that these cuts will adversely affect those children who need the best start and help with their education."
These cutbacks include increases in class-sizes, reinstating the cap on language support teachers, the abolition of numerous grant schemes including the school-book grant and the withdrawal of some funding from some designated disadvantaged schools.
Barnardos is calling for a halt to any further education cutbacks.
It is also calling for: an assurance that the free pre-school education will be of a high standard; a reversal of the decision to increase class sizes; improvements in the access and co-ordination of services working with schools such as the Education and Welfare Board and speech and language therapists, and, a roll-out of the national book rental scheme.
Children missing school as parents find cheap hols [Herald]
- Published: 14 May 2009
Source: Herald
WARNING: Absent pupils face being expelled
By Geraldine Gittens
Thursday May 14 2009
Parents should not take their children out of school early this summer so as to take advantage of cheaper summer holidays, educational experts have warned.
During the economic doom and gloom parents will be in search of cheap and cheerful holidays, but authorities warn that children will lose out on a valuable education during their absence.
Michael Doyle, Leinster North regional manager for the National Education Welfare Board (NEWB), said: "We would encourage parents not to take their kids out early for their summer holidays, because the school year is long enough, and they should be able to organise their time so that their children don't miss any school."
John Curran, spokesperson for the Irish Primary Principals Network, said: "The standard view that most principals take is that taking children out of school time is taking them away from valuable time, and they shouldn't be taken out early."
However, he said the Department of Education should redesign the system so that not everyone finishes the school-year at the same time.
"The fact that all the schools open and close on the one day is the problem. Travel companies bump up their prices once school finishes, and parents are then under pressure."
He added: "The problem is a local one. In the past schools in a local area closed on different days and children from the one family were attending different schools.
"There's no reason for schools to open and close on the same day, but the order to co-ordinate schools nationally comes from the Department of Education."
Meanwhile, Mr Doyle added: "If we receive complaints from principals where absences are explained, we don't follow it up.
"But for unexplained absences of over 20 days, we contact the parents.
"If the children are normally very good attenders and they're out of school then we don't pursue it any further."
Since the commencement of the Act (Education Welfare Act, 2000), schools are required to record and monitor attendances and to report absences to the Educational Welfare Officer (EWO), in particular circumstances such as where a child is absent for 20 days or more and where a child is expelled or suspended for six days.
hnews@herald.ie
- Geraldine Gittens
Directive to Members - Embargo on Promotion [INTO]
- Published: 13 May 2009
Source: INTO
Directive to Members - Embargo on Promotion A letter and directive to members is issuing this week to all Staff Representatives on the embargo on recruitment and promotion across the Civil and Public Sector.
Landmark ruling gives teacher a full-time job [indpendent.ie]
- Published: 13 May 2009
Source: indpendent.ie
By Katherine Donnelly
Wednesday May 13 2009
A teacher whose working hours were cut before a new contract was introduced has won a landmark case, effectively giving her a permanent full-time job, writes Katherine Donnelly.
Her Sligo-based solicitor, Garrett McDermot, said the case could have implications for other teachers.
The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) has already initiated a number of similar claims based on the Rights Commissioner ruling.
The teacher from a Co Galway secondary school has won the right to a contract for over 21 hours per week -- equivalent to a full-time position -- rather than 14 hours, 15 minutes to which she had been reduced.
She claims her hours were drastically cut in 2003, the year legislation giving new rights to non-permanent workers was introduced. The Rights Commissioner said the claim was well-founded, and dismissed a counter argument that the teacher's claim was filed late.
- Katherine Donnelly
